Twitter restarts ‘blue tick’ verification system

In a tweet from its official Twitter channel, the company said that users would be able to get a ‘blue tick’ identity verification badge on their account if they subscribed for $8 a month, or $11 a month on Apple services.

Businesses using the service will receive a ‘gold tick’ to verify authenticity, while a ‘grey tick’ will be in place for government and public sector organisations.

The changes come after a previous launch of blue tick status for users was paused after a number of people took advantage of verification process changes to impersonate well-known public figures and businesses.

Before Elon Musk’s $44bn takeover of the social media company earlier this year, Twitter had required blue tick holders to go through a verification process to ascertain their identity.

The original verification system was disbanded following the takeover and during the initial attempts to launch Twitter Blue, with the idea that blue ticks would be reserved for paying subscribers.

Twitter said that its new policy meant that anyone paying for the service who changed their display name, twitter handle or profile photo would temporarily lose their blue tick until checks on the account had been completed.

As well as a blue check, users who sign up to the Twitter Blue service will also get the ability to edit posts, upload longer videos, see fewer adverts and have their tweets prioritised in others’ newsfeeds.